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Three things a Baptist learnt from the Anglican Church

Published 14 November 2014 | Sophia Sinclair – Press Service International Columnist

Eight years ago I attended an Anglican church for the first time. As a Baptist pastor’s daughter I was suddenly transplanted into a church community where men sometimes wear dresses, people sprinkle water on babies’ heads, drink real wine at communion, and recite familiar phrases aloud together during their services.
Despite growing up in church pews there was still so much that was mysterious: who were the Vestry and what did they do? Would I ever know the words to The Grace off by heart? Would they still give me communion if I didn’t cup my hands just right? Continue reading →

Study Shows Millennials Turned Off by Trendy Church Buildings, Prefer a Classic Sanctuary

By Stephanie Samuel November 14, 2014

Millennials gravitate toward classic, quiet church spaces that feel authentic and provide a break from the busyness of a fast-paced, technological world, revealed a study commissioned by church architectural firms.

Online surveys administered to 843 young adults ages 18 to 29 by Christian research firm Barna Group and Cornerstone Knowledge Network, the market research organization created by church design firms Aspen Group and Cogun, found 67 percent chose the word “classic” to describe their ideal church. By contrast, 33 percent prefer a trendy church as their ideal. Continue reading →

By celebrating the feast of our patron Saint St. Margaret we get Matthew’s gospel of the sheep and the goats a week early! You might think lucky us…..or you might not. It all depends who you think you are in the story. This is one of Matthew’s more powerful tales and many better than me have preached on it.

In front of Ebenezer Baptist Church, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. told the faithful, just weeks before his death, how he wanted to be remembered. “ If Christ is the ruler our lives, then my Nobel Peace Prize is less important than my trying to feed the hungry. If Christ is King, then my invitations to the White House are less important than that I visited those in prison. If Christ is Lord, then my being Time magazine’s ‘man of the year’ is less important than that I tried to love extravagantly, dangerously, will all my being.” Sounds to me like Martin knew a thing about being a follower of Jesus. Continue reading →

It is 100 years since the start of the First World War and since 1919, people have stood silently – on November 11th and, like us today, on the nearest Sunday before – to remember the dead of that War that was to end all wars, of the world war that followed it, and the wars that have followed those. There has been a shift in the last century. In 1919, those who had died were almost all – even then not all – servicemen, those who had gone to the front to serve their country and fallen. And a big part of it is still about that: remembering those who joined – and join – armies and navies and air forces and are sent to fight, and who have given up their lives in that cause. We remember those who died, for their sacrifice, but also all those who fought, for the terrible cost to them personally because of the things that society requires them to do, and then live with, in its name in war. But because in war society requires of its servicemen and -women that they do these terrible things, and because through the twentieth century the consequences of those expectations have increasingly been experienced also by those who are not members of the armed forces, it seems to me fitting that we remember today also all those others who died in war: in bombing raids, those civilians who lost their lives simply because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

On October 4th we celebrated Oktoberfest, British-style with a fun and festive Oktoberfest Pub Night!

Beer, Pretzels, Sausage, Live music and Polka meant that there was lots of dancing, singing and fun to be had.

Thank you to our sponsors, Big Rock Brewing & Dimpflmeier Bakery for supply the beer and pretzels and to everyone who came out to celebrate and support the Lakeshore Out of the Cold, Community Dinners and other outreach programs.

For any of you who were here a month ago we had the pleasure of hearing Andrea preach and it was moment I was very proud of Andrea sharing her experience, and it also brought me back to the first time I preached.

I was asked to preach when I was 20 and had just returned from Nicaragua from a international feminist solidarity trip. I had lived in a remote indigenous village where their local church was a hub of community. And I was particularly inspired by the faith of my host mom and these strong women who ran the church. When I returned back to Toronto my church, Holy Trinity, asked me to preach. I was quite nervous and also I have the habit of tearing up when I talking about something I care about while speaking publicly.

Harvest Thanksgiving. A wonderful feast day in the church that is a “left over” of sorts from another time. Harvest Thanksgiving was once a day to Thank God that there was enough food in the cellar to make it to spring, or if it had been a bad year to pray that God would provide what the cellar wasn’t going to be able to. Clearly, an important day in the life of the 19th century Church but what is this day about in the 21st century? With food as close as the refrigerator door – what are we doing; still celebrating Harvest Thanksgiving ? What have we to be truly thankful for ?

When I was asked to preach this Sunday I was unsure as to what preaching was…I was also very unsure of what I was getting myself into. That being said, that was the same unsure feeling that I had about going to British Colombia. So, before I delve any deeper I am going to show you a short trailer which will accompany a longer video which you will get a chance to view during coffee hour.

Our working understanding of the Cross and its significance to Christian life dates back to a few dusty old Theologians. St. Anselm who was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury in the year 1093; St. Thomas Aquinas who was born in 1225; and our dear old Protestant friend John Calvin.

If you went to Wikipedia to get a grip on this development you’d read this…..